<p>SYDNEY, Australia, 26 February, 2004 – Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE), the leading provider of realtime business and service assurance software, announced that SmarTone is using the Netcool® suite as the strategic platform for the service quality management of its General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) and third-generation (3G) services. SmarTone is the leading provider of mobile data services in Hong Kong and was the first operator in Hong Kong to launch GPRS and trial WCDMA 3G services.</p><p>“We handle more than ten million calls per day and managing network uptime is critical to our business. The ability to monitor the status of the infrastructure in realtime enables us to identify and respond to potential problems before they cause a disruption in service,” said Mr KK Luk, Assistant General Manager of SmarTone’s Engineering and Operations. “Our complex GPRS and 3G service delivery infrastructures were generating an excessive number of event data. Netcool’s powerful event compression and correlation features have saved SmarTone more than 80% of its network operator resources and enabled a more proactive approach to the management of mobile services. Additionally, the Netcool solution for Wireless Services constantly simulates an end user’s experience of key data services, alerting our operations team when certain service levels are broken. This enables our network operators to accurately assess service response time and quality much more quickly and cost-efficiently.”</p><p>SmarTone deployed a comprehensive Netcool solution specifically suited to address the needs of mobile service providers by allowing proactive management and performance monitoring of existing wireless services. Additionally, the solution allows SmarTone to quickly and easily integrate and manage new services as customer requirements and market competition dictate. The complete Netcool solution includes specialised applications for systems and service monitoring to enable constant service uptime and end-to-end monitoring of SmarTone’s GPRS and 3G infrastructures, helping to maintain the availability and reliability of its mobile data communications services. With the Netcool solution in place, SmarTone can identify where service degradation is occurring and immediately determine the probable impact on customers or service levels, thus allowing SmarTone to prioritise the time and resources needed to address the most critical problems. In addition, Netcool’s realtime Business Dashboards provide an end-to-end view of service quality across SmarTone’s business operations, which allow its strategists to assess which services require additional investments and resources, or alternatively, identify where unnecessary investment is occurring.</p><p>“SmarTone joins a long list of next generation wireless service providers who are leveraging the Netcool solution to implement a strategic service assurance platform allowing SmarTone to consolidate complex networks, maintain service uptime, prioritise the allocation of service management resources and inform the business of opportunities for further expansion or efficiencies,” said Mr Ammar Hindi, Vice President for the Asia-Pacific region at Micromuse. “Throughout the world, Micromuse is leading the market in providing wireless service solutions to service providers who want the flexibility to expand services and subscriber numbers while maintaining network uptime, protecting revenue and maximising the investment in existing management tools.”</p><p>ABOUT SMARTONE</p><p>SmarTone is Hong Kong's leading mobile network operator in data services. We are a customer-oriented company and aim to bring our customers closer to the people, the information and the entertainment that is important to them and, through this, to generate greater shareholders' value. SmarTone is committed to delivering the best value proposition in the market through continual improvements in the three pillars of our businesses - products and services, network performance and customer service - as well as the company's brand position. SmarTone was selected as one of Asia's Top 20 Brands in the annual "Top Asian Brands" survey conducted by Media magazine in June 2003. SmarTone was the only mobile operator to be included in the Top 20 alongside other major international brands. With our strong technological heritage and deep commitment to quality service, SmarTone introduces compelling mobile data services which are marketed under three categories: SmarTone iN™, a ground-breaking mobile multimedia service providing information and entertainment for all customers; SmarTone BIZ™, a suite of simple and easy-to-use mobile business services for business executives and professionals to stay ahead of the game; and messaging services, such as picturemail™. SmarTone's branded offerings, including SmarTone iN™, SmarTone BIZ™, emailon the go™, picturemail™, moviemail™, sms via email™ and PhoneHome™ deliver substantial benefits to customers. Operating the best network in town, SmarTone provides customers with voice and data services of the highest quality. SmarTone has become the leader in customer service, not only amongst telecom operators, but also across all service industries in Hong Kong. This is exemplified by the growing number of local and regional retail and service awards received by the company.</p><p>ABOUT NETCOOL</p><p>Micromuse's Netcool® software solutions provide businesses with the assurance that their applications and services are up and operating. By allowing our customers to see what's happening throughout the infrastructure in realtime, Netcool applications enable them to respond to problems before revenue-supporting services are affected.</p><p>Netcool applications install out-of-the-box, deploy rapidly and scale to the largest environments. Micromuse's flagship, Netcool/OMNIbus™ application, includes a library of off-the-shelf software modules that allow our customers to collect and consolidate information from more than 1,000 environments spanning applications, systems, voice and IP, cable/broadband, switches and routers, and enterprise management systems.</p><p>ABOUT MICROMUSE</p><p>Micromuse Inc. (Nasdaq: MUSE) is the leading provider of business and service assurance software solutions. The Netcool® software suite provides organisations with the assurance that their IT systems are supporting and driving profits 24 hours a day. Unlike traditional infrastructure management systems, Netcool solutions provide realtime end-to-end visibility and accurate troubleshooting from a business perspective. Such business intelligence allows organisations to respond to problems quickly, streamline workflow processes and improve business uptime. Globally, Micromuse customers include AT&amp;T, BT, Cable &amp; Wireless, Charles Schwab, Deutsche Telekom, Digex, EarthLink, GE Appliances, ITC^DeltaCom, J.P. Morgan Chase, T-Mobile and Verizon. Micromuse’s customers in Australia include Telstra Global Operations Centre, British Telecom Global Services - Asia Pacific, and Ericsson Australia - Network Operations Centre. Sydney is the regional headquarters for Micromuse Asia Pacific and includes sales, technical support and the administrative functions for the region. Micromuse is headquartered in San Francisco. For more information go to www.micromuse.com</p><p>###</p><p>Micromuse and Netcool are registered trademarks of Micromuse Ltd. All other trademarks and registered trademarks in this document are the properties of their respective owners. Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties.</p><p>The factors that could cause actual future results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements include the following: fluctuations in customer demand, the Company’s ability to manage its growth (including the ability to hire sufficient sales and technical personnel), the risks associated with the expansion of the Company’s distribution channels, the risk of new product introductions and customer acceptance of new products; the rapid technological change which characterises the Company’s markets, the risks associated with competition, the risks associated with international sales as the Company expands its markets, and the ability of the Company to compete successfully in the future, as well as other risks identified in the Company’s Securities and Exchange Commission Filings, including but not limited to those appearing under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's most recent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and on Form 10-K on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission and available on the Company's Web site.</p><p>For media information please contact Amanda Scott-Kiddie at Kinetics on +612 9976 6611 or email amanda@kinetics.com.au.</p>

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